Most people aiming at an online business aim at the wrong number.
Six figures.
£10k a month.
Replacing an income.
Quitting trading time for money.
Fine as destinations. Useless at the start.
There's a smaller number that tells you whether you've got the beginnings of a real business.
Ten people you don't know, paying you for something you created.
Not followers.
Not likes.
Not "great idea."
Customers.
It sounds small. It isn't.
Something important has to happen before 10 strangers give you money. Once you see what that is, starting looks different.
That's the workshop.
You don't need a better idea
You don't need an idea at all.
Most people start here:
What business model is best?
What niche?
What should I sell?
What could AI build for me?
That's why so many people stall before they've begun.
There's a narrower place to start. More practical. Once you see it, you'll notice businesses in places you've been looking at for years.
I call it OPS — One Problem Solved.
It's the principle under the whole session. And it changes what your first product should be.
What most people do
- Pick a business model
- Hunt for the perfect idea
- Build for months
- Add more to make it "valuable"
- Launch, then find out
- Try to appeal to everyone
What we'll do instead
- Start where most people don't look
- Look for a particular kind of problem
- Find evidence before you build
- Make the first offer much smaller
- Use a constraint that forces you to simplify
- Let the first 10 customers tell you what happens next
The difference looks subtle. It isn't.
There's one question that changes almost everything you build. I'll give it to you on the call.
The problem was never information
You can already find almost anything online. That's been true for twenty years. Now you have AI as well.
So you can generate ideas, products, copy, sites and ads faster than ever.
Which creates a new problem:
We can now build the wrong thing faster than at any point in history.
AI doesn't fix that. Sometimes it makes it worse.
There's a decision that has to happen before you ask AI to make anything.
Get that right and AI is leverage.
Get it wrong and AI just helps you waste time more efficiently.
We'll spend part of the two hours on that distinction. Most people have AI backwards.
Three things, then you decide
No fake scarcity. No invented seat counts. No pretending I'm not going to sell you something later.
1
Can this help me?
"I'd love something of my own, but I have no idea what I'd sell."
Yes.
"I've got ten ideas and I can't choose."
Yes.
"I know a lot about something and can't see the business in it."
Yes.
"I already built something and nobody bought it."
Yes.
Those sound different. Underneath, they're mostly the same problem. That's what we work on.
You don't need an idea, an audience, or the tech. You do need to get one thing right before any of those matter. We start there.
2
What are you actually going to show me?
Two hours on Zoom. Me and my slides.
Three parts:
The method. From "I don't know what to sell" to something worth testing — and why most people start in the wrong place. Including the four laws, the research method, and the weekend constraint.
The build. Live on screen, so you can see it rather than take my word for it. Where AI does the work — and the part it can't.
The first 10. How to organise everything around that milestone, and what opens up once you've passed it.
Sequence:
Doing those in the wrong order is why people blame their product, their marketing, or their lack of audience.
3
What's the catch?
There isn't one.
The workshop is free. There is an offer at the end.
I'd rather say that now than spring it on you at minute 78.
We're a business. We sell something. At the end I'll show you what we've built for people who want help putting this into practice. If you want the help, decide then. If you don't — take the method and do it yourself. You get the whole thing either way.
Stuart Ross.
I teach people how to create and sell digital products from a laptop. Not theory — a sequence for finding a problem people will pay to solve, building a small first offer, and getting it in front of strangers.
In this session I'll share that sequence. Including where AI compresses weeks into days, and where it still can't replace a decision only you can make.
Don't spend the two hours on the wrong question
Don't sit there trying to replace your income.
Don't worry about six figures.
Don't design the ultimate product, the brand, or the empire.
Those questions come later.
For now:
Could I create something 10 strangers would happily pay me for?
If the answer becomes yes, you've proved something.
If it becomes no, you've learned something.
Both beat another six months of thinking about starting.
Don't come if
You're looking for passive income with no work in it. AI changes how much labour it takes. It doesn't remove the work.
You want me to hand you a "winning product" everyone on the call can copy. That's not the method.
You're collecting webinars. If you've watched eleven and executed on none of them, twelve won't save you.
If you've been circling this for a while — you want something of your own, you can see AI changing what's possible, and you're still stuck between "I want this" and "I know exactly what I'm selling and who I'm selling it to" — come. That's the gap.
Questions people ask before they register
Who is this for?
People starting from scratch. No audience, no list, no idea yet. If you already run something and want a second, smaller offer, it works for that too — the method is the same.
Is it really free?
Yes. Nothing to pay to attend. There's an offer at the end for people who want help going further, and you leave with the method either way.
How long is it?
Two hours, on Zoom. Come with something to write on — you'll be making decisions as we go, not just listening.
Do I need an idea already?
No, and it's better if you don't have one you're attached to. Finding the thing people will pay for is the first part of the workshop.
What if I can't make it?
Register anyway and pick the time that suits you best. Sessions run in UK, US and Australian evenings, and we'll email you if you miss the one you booked.
What do I need to take part?
A device with an internet connection and Zoom. That's it. No software to buy, no AI subscription needed to follow along.
So here's the invitation.
Two hours, Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30 PM.
One kind of person. One kind of problem. A much smaller first product than you're probably imagining.
It's free. There's an offer at the end. You leave with the method either way.
Let's find out what your first 10 sales actually take.